


Final Splat Match

by aelou



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Gen, Multi, lol this is just me and my friends splatoon ocs, team suckerpunch - Freeform, team whiteout - Freeform, yeehaw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-02-23 20:47:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18709693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelou/pseuds/aelou
Summary: team whiteout seems to finally meet their match in the turf war tournament of 20X9! but with a former team whiteout member on their team as well as two octolings, does whiteout even stand a chance? the answer is no they don't because fuck team whiteout but yeehaw. splatoon ocs + my friend Ripley's ocs





	1. room pho more?

**_INKLINGS AND OCTOLINGS ALIKE- TONIGHT AT 8PM EST, THE FINAL SPLAT LEAGUE BATTLE!_ **

**_TEAM WHITEOUT, OUR UNRIVALED VICTORS FOR 2 YEARS STRAIGHT, NOW FACE OFF AGAINST A NEWCOMER- TEAM SUCKERPUNCH! WILL THEY CRUSH THAT MEAN STREAK, OR WILL THEY ONLY LEAD TO THE INEVITABLE? TUNE IN AT 8PM EST TO FIND OUT! ONLY ON THE INKSCAPE CHANNEL!_** ** _  
_** The TV in Wrasse’s living room had been left on, but for what reason, she had no idea. Benkei didn’t watch TV, and he was also cooking right about now and preferred to listen to orchestral music when he did. Kampa, however, was still her new roomate, so she supposed she had forgotten that the octoling still found just about everything fascinating. She wasn’t surprised to see them watching eagerly, turning to Wrasse before immediately shouting.

“ **That’s US! We’re really going to battle them in like, uh, three hours? Two?”** They had a goofy smile on their face, but who was Wrasse to take that away from them? They had earned it, after all, for what they had gone through in just two weeks. So many trials, so many failures, so much desperation- just to make it to this moment. Kampa had deserved this happiness.

She, however, wished she could feel the same about the interaction. It wasn’t excitement that had found its way into her heart, but rather what felt like a bag of bricks, holding her down, having her calculate her every step as a precaution. Everything felt so uncertain. She trusted her team, yeah, but to go against her  _ old  _ team that she used to trust? Not the greatest feeling ever.

**“Yeah, we’re gonna go meet up in the training room near the hub in about an hour. But right now I’ve invited both Xander and Ripley for lunch- we need to be as strong as we can during that fight, and Cod knows you can’t fight on an empty stomach.”**

**“Haha! You’re right! Hey wait, I’ve never had a real meal before! Is it just a bigger amount of chips?”**

Right. She forgot that the group had basically subsided off of whatever junk food they managed to buy out of the machine during that time.

**“It’s something good. Actually, it smells really good, I have no idea what it even is. Benkei, what’cha cookin’?”** Wrasse shouted over the TV, the strange smell of savory foods being cooked in the other room drifting in.

His monotonous voice provided a simple answer.  **“It’s phô.”**

**“Fo? What’s Fo?”**

**“It’s noodles in broth.”** His secondary reply to Kampa wasn’t exactly the best.

**“You’ll like it” is what he means. Now, go wash your hands and turn off that TV. “**

**“Yes ma’am!”** Raising their hand to form a small salute, they got up, and of course they forgot to turn off the TV. Running off to the bathroom in the apartment, Wrasse sighed, picking up the remote before seeing the rest of the advertisements go back to the programing, and went still at the sight of the squids on TV.

**_“So, Tomini, what happened between your team and Wrasse of team Suckerpunch? Wasn’t she your major player?”_ **

**_“HAH! Major player my [BEEP]”_ ** _ Man,  _ she thought,  _ why in Cod’s name did they interview him out of everyone on team Whiteout? He was the least professional of all squids ever. _

**_“That’s an awfully rude thing to say. What if she’s listening right now?”_ **

**_“Well then she can listen in real close and look at me, knowing that for once, she won’t be on the winning team. You lost your chance, Wrasse, and now we’re gonna WHITEOUT the map with your ragtag team!”_ **

**_“That was. Strange, to say the least. Team Whiteout and Team Suckerpunch will be going against each other at 8pm tonight, so make sure to tune in! This is Jerna Lyste with the Reporting Cephalopods, now back to your favorites, Off the Hook live!”_ **

She had turned off the TV by then, for as much as she admired and appreciated what Off the Hook had done for them during the trials, they could no longer show that same aid in public. Team Suckerpunch was on their own now, and had to prove their worth. That and she already knew what the weather and stages were, so it would just be redundant.

Tossing the remote on the couch, Wrasse turned to note Benkei lifting his hot, still steaming pot of phô onto the small dining table, setting up some extra and also kind of ugly plastic folding chairs for Kampa, Xander, and Ripley. It had normally just been the two of them- Grey and Wrasse- so they didn’t really go overboard with purchasing more than two chairs of the original set. The chairs didn’t matter though- the food did.

Making her way over to the cupboard, the inkling reaching in and took 5 bowls out, before reaching down to the pantry drawers and grabbing some large spoons for the noodles. Returning back to the table, she placed a spoon and a bowl in front of each the chairs, watching an ever so eager Kampa finally leave the bathroom and taking their seat at the table. Reaching out, they tried to grab at the lid of the noodles only for Benkei to swat away their hand, staring at them intently.

**“Wait for everyone else, Kampachi.”** He was stern- but he was not cruel to the octoling. Though disappointed, they waited, bouncing a leg about as they sat in their seat before they seemed to stop at the sound of the doorbell for the apartment. 

**“That must be the boys! I’ll get the door.”** Leaving the tableside, Wrasse opened the door, a lax inkling with a gaming related hat promptly smiling while the octoling near him offered a polite wave.

**“Wrasse! Good to see you too, Kampa. Ready for tonight?”**

**“As ready as I can force myself to be, I guess.”**

**“That’s the spirit! Been working on that positive mindset, have you?”** It was a rhetorical question as Xander entered, with Ripley following along though more so ogling the place than providing conversation. 

**“So, woof woof, what’s for lunch?”** The inkling inquired, staring at the pot at the center before taking a seat, Ripley following suit and sitting next to Kampa. They were once again playing on Wrasse’s phone, and showed Ripley something from Wrasse’s squidder feed for him to hold in a laugh, finally smiling a bit. She supposed she could ask what it was later, as for now it could be unanimously decreed that just about everyone was hungry.

**“Phô. Homemade from scratch. Hope you all enjoy.”** Benkei’s response was just as straightforward as anything else he said. He had a way with words, and that was to mince them up and make them unfathomably bland compared to his food.

**“Oh, shell yeah! I’ve never had this before, I’ve always wanted to try it. It looks tasty, Benkei! You should be proud of yourself.”** Xander on the other hand seemed to be much more willing to “season” his words as he buffeted the manta with compliments. For once, the normally straight faced manta seemed to smile, and it was a nice sight.

**“Thank you. I will clean the dishes before I eat. Do start without me.”** Leaving the table, he went over to the sink, filled with bowls and grabbing the nozzle of the sink and washing off the dishes as best as he could.

Wrasse, on the other hand, took the ladle from the table and removed the lid, steam immediately emerging from the huge steel pot. Taking everyones bowls, she provided an equal distribution of the soup, giving a bit extra to Kampa for fear of them asking for more and a bit less for herself because of the unease that took up her stomach. They ate in a brief silence, only for Kampa to speak up.

**“This…is the best thing I’ve ever eaten! I don’t like Kampachi anymore- can I be phô?”**

**“No, because then you’ll be agent fou and not nine, dummy.”** Ripley snorted, to which the rest of the team laughed at. 

Xander added,  **“They’re right though, these are such good noodles. Benkei, mind sharing me the recipe?”**

**“I will give it to Wrasse to send you. Thank you.”** He nodded from the sink, almost finished with the last bowl.

Wrasse, on the other hand, had been silent for most of this exchange, eating what she could of her serving, but now staring at the bowl absentmindedly, spooning a strand of noodle and feeling her stomach writhe a little. Everything was just getting to her today- she couldn’t enjoy Benkei’s food without even thinking about the match. Just closing her eyes briefly let her mind wander too long, thinking about just how poorly they would face off against team Whiteout. Why did they agree to this? What was the use? Personal gain? They’d loose and make more of an ass of themselves. 

**“Wrasse? You’re not eating.”** Ripley spoke up, to which everyone turned to face her.

**“I…. had a snack earlier! I sort of ruined my appetite.”** She laughed awkwardly, only for Benkei to return to the table and sit down.

He also decided to speak, something Wrasse wished for once that he didn’t.  **“No you didn’t. You did not even have breakfast.”**

**“What? Wrasse, you’ve been yelling at me to get ready to eat but you haven’t even ate for all of today?”** Kampa snorted, but kept a serious stare at the inkling.

**“Listen, I’m fine! I ate what I could, alright?”**

**“This isn’t about food, is it?”** Xander saw through the entanglement almost immediately, and it seemed that with his publication did everyone else understand as well.

**“Oh no, this is about Whiteout, isn’t it? Wrasse! Come** **_on,_ ** **we’ve been through this already! You’ll kick their ass! We all will- we know everything about them thanks to you!”**

**“It's not like that, Xander, and you know it isn't-”**

**“You're nervous. That's okay, man. We're here for you. Don't isolate yourself through this- we're gonna kick their ass as a team, aren't we guys?”**

**“Duh.”** Ripley was without hesitation. 

Kampa on the other hand was much more excited about it. “ **Shell yeah we will!”**

_ I wish it was that easy to get over.  _ Feigning strength, she offered them a smile and glanced at Xander before trying to eat a bit more before leaving the rest in the fridge for later. That was a mistake- her stomach began to feel even worse. Pushing past it, she returned to the table and waited for everyone else to finish, taking their empty bowls and placing them in the sink.

Benkei was first- he was a quick eater- with Kampa following, then Xander and then Ripley. After everyone had finished eating, the team leaned back in their chairs, stirring up conversation.


	2. did you know? aerosprays aren't that bad, they're just good at not killing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wrasse tries to face her fears. keyword: tries

As Wrasse took off her headphones angrily, Ripley seemed to notice this fit of passion and merely cast her a glance before speaking.

**“You sure you’re okay, chief?”**

**“I’m fine! Everything is fine, stop worrying about me!”** She waved her hand at him, trying to keep him away.

**“Hey, no need to be a dick about it.”** The octoling found himself still puzzled at her response.

**“Wrasse has terminal dick syndrome though!”** The other octoling added on, of which Ripley stifled a laugh at.

**“What?! Who told you that?”** Wrasse growled at Kampa, the taller octoling having to look down at her. 

**“Tomini. He told everyone that, didn’t you watch the report?”**

**“No. I told you to turn off the tv when you were watching it!”** Wrasse’s response was quick, and Ripley’s laughter died down just as quick if not faster. The door to the training room before them was finally opened, though Xander seemed a bit nervous with the sudden tension that had formed within his team.

**“Hey, you guys okay? What’s going on?”** He held the door open for the rest of them, though the group had stopped before the open door.

Ripley merely shrugged, grumbling, **“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Wrasse?”** **  
** The inkling was furious- at her own team, at their opponents, at everyone- and merely shoved past both Xander and Ripley, with Kampa staring on with a confounded expression on their face.

**“Don’t ask me anything! Shut up, let’s just start preparing already!”**

As she had entered the much warmer backlot that consisted of the training room behind Ammo Knights, she felt herself stand a little too long near the door. It seemed she had overheard what Kampa said next-

**“Did...Did I say something mean?”**

Oh, the guilt sunk in. No, Kampa didn’t mean it, of course they didn’t, they barely understood half the words they spoke in inkling. Yet it didn’t make anything better. It also seemed that Wrasse’s silence failed to provide any fixings of its own, with Xander offering a hand on their shoulder and a smile, before saying,

**“No, it’s not you. Don’t worry, just get ready to use that blobber of yours!”** His words were encouraging in attempts to distract them from the negative attitude that Wrasse had suddenly displayed.

**“Yeah, it’s not your fault. It’s just a certain** **_someone_ ** **being annoying.”**

**“Hey now, we’re a team. Don’t bother her if she’s acting up.”**

**“Then** **_she_ ** **needs to start acting like she’s with us! Stop moping around and** **_actually fucking speak to us,_ ** **Wrasse! Me and Kampa had to learn inkling-** **_what’s her excuse?_ ** **”**

_ Yeah, good job Wrasse. Now you look like a colossal dick because you were rude to the nicest person on the team, didn’t say sorry, and even worse, now everyone’s accusing you of having bad behavior.  _

Yet once again, Wrasse kept silent, staring on at her team as they entered the training room. The room had been set up to have one single test area with a much bigger, team focused area further to the left. She isolated herself once again, in words before but now in battle. Having brought her aerospray in a large duffle bag, she unzipped it in silence, the rest of her team chatting amongst themselves as they entered the larger room to the left.

**“Hey, you wanna work on how we’re gonna tackle the newbie?”** Despite the displeased look on Ripley’s face, Xander still seemed optimistic about inviting the other inkling into the fray- after all, she’d need to work on a counter since everyone else had figured out just who they were to focus on.

Words struggled to come out of her mouth, but she did what she could to try to speak, even if what she said was pathetic at best.  **“I wanna work on my own for a bit, if that’s okay.”**

He seemed disappointed, but still held a cheery smile.  **“Sure! Just let us know when you’re ready to work with us, we’re going to be working on strategies.”** The rest of the group had already entered the room by this point, with him trailing on. Immediate regret set in- maybe she  _ should  _ go with them? No- it was too late, and it’d make her look desperate. 

Desperate. Whiteout hadn’t been desperate to replace her.

The newbie was Tomini’s sibling- the fact that he recruited his own didn’t surprise her. The fact someone as… awfully pretty as Angel was related to him, however, did. Angel had a straight haircut- and an ominous facial bandana. It was skeleton themed, perhaps to go along with the strange gothic look that all of team Whiteout had. Xe rocked an anchor sweater, maining a kensa splatling.

_ How the fuck was an  _ _ aerospray _ _ supposed to go against a  _ _ splatling _ _? _

She had recalled her prior experiences with heavy backliners of the sort with how often she got splatted during matches against them. Good! Not only was she replaced by someone much more efficient, but she would just as easily be put out of commission with what little time on the field she’d barely manage to get.

Staring at the target straight ahead, she lifted her aero and seemed focused on the gentle glimmer it had from the sunlight seeping in from the glass roof, before lowering it once more. Holding it steady, she posed her legs a small distance away from each other before pulling on the trigger, running forward as she inked turf and heading straight for the target, slipping past it as she turned into a squid quickly. Reaching the backside of the target, she quickly inked it, deflating it within a matter of seconds. Of course this was easy;  _ it wasn’t an actual splatling main.  _

As she approached the now reflating target, she suddenly tensed up. The rapid fire of the splatling felt like it echoed within her eardrums- her head whipped around, expecting to see Angel xerself show up and splat her on sight.

Instead, she merely saw Ripley with his ballpoint nouveau equipped. He had gotten the other two targets besides Wrasse, one of the shots splashing onto her nose. Scrunching up her face, she raised a hand to wipe it off, while the octoling merely stared on.

**“You done working whatever the fuck’s bothering you out alone, Wrasse?”**

Her silence seemed to provide a sense of cockiness, with Ripley lowering his brow at such.

**“Whatever. Xander told me to come fetch you. Seems like you’ve certainly worked on a lot in that time, huh?”**

**“Wrasse! I just figured out how to do something cool, come on! Xander helped me figure out a way for us to group up and attack almost the entire team! Can you believe that- a quad!”** Kampa’s cheerful voice lightened the sour mood that seemed to form within the smaller room, flicking their bloblobber gleefully around and not minding when it barely skimmed past the now three reinflated targets.

**“A quad? From you? Hard to believe, guess you oughta prove it to me.”** This time, she tried to be nicer in tone. Ripley’s sharp gaze still rested on her as she followed the taller octoling out, still judging her. It was as though he had taken that last line she had said and expected her to prove to him that she worked through her problems.

Entering the larger room, a small set of stairs was located to the right with an upper balcony level best suited for longer distance weapons.

**“Great, we’ve got the whole gang here. Okay! I asked Sheldon to set up the targets different than normal, that way we can work on how we plan to get each of them down! Kampa, Ripley, why don’t you two start so Wrasse can get an example? I’ll follow, of course.”** Xander had been standing at the top of the balcony, but came down the stairs just as the trio entered.

**“Holy shit, why is that one target super fast?”** The target in mind had a strangely graffitied face. Wait- was that sharpie? Who in Cod’s name drew that stupid expression on that poor inflatable squid?

**“Take a wild guess who it’s supposed to be!”** Xander challenged, though still ever so chipper.

Thinking of the only inkling on team whiteout with nothing but pure run speed up gear, Wrasse finally spoke up after a second.  **“T..Tomini?”**

**“I made the face! Ripley said it looks just like the real one, do you agree?”** Kampa asked, now showing off the sharpie they had kept in their pocket.

**“Cod, it really does. I’d say this one looks more like him than the real thing.”** Wrasse snorted. It looked punchable. Perhaps in the face?  _ No, this is just an inflatable squid, would you calm down for two seconds!  _ Shutting up the voice in her head, she turned to see Kampa and Ripley readying themselves, their weapons equipped and ready to go.

**“You two ready?”**

**“Born ready.”** Ripley flashed his teeth at Xander, still focusing on the movement of the targets before him.

Kampa’s focus had gone away in a mere instant. **“Wait, we were** **_born?!_ ** **”**

**“Don’t think too hard on that, Kampa.”**

**“Roger that!”**

**“Go!”** Xander raised his hand suddenly to mimic the flag at the start of races, only for the two octolings to lurch forward immediately.

  
  



	3. deep sea metro booming wants some more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang takes the train to go practice. sorry for weird pacing in the chapters I have this entire thing written as one fluid chapter and like. e

**“So, we've got two more hours till our match is up. Should we hit the training hub early, suckers?”** Xander asked after checking his watch, the time not particularly easing the tension building up in Wrasse.

Pondering briefly, the Octoling spoke up. “ **It'd probably help us to work on counters, especially for the newbie. We don't know what xe is like other than being a kensa splatling main.”** _ Ah right _ , she thought,  _ my replacement _ .

It had been hard to come back to Inkopolis and loose her team but what was humiliating was the fact she was replaced….by a lower rank. Yet Angel, her replacement, had been serving xer team well: they had made it to the finals after all. It wasn't as easy a fight to the top for team Suckerpunch, but if they had this chance, they wouldn't waste it. Even if she felt like she was going to.

**“I'm always down to Blob around town!”** Kampas obnoxious amounts of optimism seemed to get the better of everyone, as Xander stood up from the chair.

**“It's settled then. Wrasse, you're coming, right?”**

**“Course. Can't miss** **_another_ ** **team's training.”** _ Ouch, self burn. _ That was a mistake to joke about, as even Ripley seemed to show discomfort with her mocking her previous failure in a team.

An awkward silence found itself situated between the group, before Kampa spoke up again.

**“We’re taking the train, right guys?”**

**“Kampa, can I just say, the fact you can still stand trains is surprising. It’s up to you guys though.”** Wrasse turned to the rest of the group, waiting for a response.

**“Sure.”**

**“Why not, I guess.”** Ripley had his hands in his pockets, rather relaxed for the night that they were to be promised.

**“Travel safe then. Wrasse- don’t forget your bag.”** Benkei, though supportive, had other things to tend to for the time being, though he promised to show up at the showdown.

Despite it being rush hour as it was 6pm already when they left, the trains weren’t too crowded as they arrived at the station. Noticing a sea urchin playing the trombone as she waited for the next train to uptown, Wrasse shuffled through her pockets to find some spare change. Managing only a dollar and a few cents, she tossed them into the small case the urchin had before them, providing a solemn nod and rejoining with her group. Maybe that would’ve been a better future; one in music than in turf. Cripes, why was she so worked up about this? What good would having only been a musician done for her? What good would she be doing for her team by being this paranoid?

_ Ding-ding! The Green line has Arrived. _

Brought back into reality again, she followed the rest of her party as they entered the subway, sitting though mildly uncomfortable with the familiarity of it all. Last time she had been in one of these, they saved the world. This time? They were going to save whatever bits of the world she figured were worth saving from the hands of team Whiteout.

Sitting on the hard plastic chairs, she noticed Kampa standing next to her, scrolling through their phone and seemingly preoccupied. In fact, it seemed like the rest of her group wasn’t even focused on the fight. 

Why was she the only one so  _ worried _ ?

Her stomach felt sick, but the growing nausea found itself calmed down as she looked through the smudge-ridden glass of the subway. Passing by the reef, she saw how it was currently under construction. She had recalled battling in this area- and it seemed they were renovating it for the 20X9 turf year. Perhaps next year they’d beat whiteout here. 

If her team was still eligible for competitive play at that point.

_ Shut up about team whiteout. Shut up about whiteout!  _

Trying to quell her own fears, she watched the scenery below change from the shop surrounded plaza to Bluefin depot. Her earlier battles had been here- in recent years, the depot had been retired from turf war and returned into mostly the same abandoned coal mine it had been, this time shrouded with the nostalgic charm that many cephalopods must’ve had at the sight. Sighing, she watched as they passed above it, the rusty truss bridge for the train squeaking a little as the train went past.

Of course, it took one word to snap her back into reality.  **“Hey, Wrasse?”**

**“Huh?”** Whipping her head around, she looked to note Xander sitting across from her with Ripley sitting beside him, though focusing on something else.

It was Xander who spoke-  _ of course it was-  _ asking her,  **“Are you** **_sure_ ** **you’re okay? It’s not like you to eat so little for lunch, and you just seem really out of it.”**

**“I’m fine, Xander.”** That wouldn’t be the last time she’d lie about it.

**“You know I can see through you, right? You know that I’m your teammate and you have nothing to hide from me, right?”** He offered a snarky grin to go with his statement, but the meaning was still genuine.

**“Uh-huh. I’m not hiding anything, you paranoid prick.”** She offered a hint of satire to her own retort, though he seemed to pout at that last statement.

**“I’m not being paranoid. I just want to make sure you’re alright. Besides, I pester the rest of them just as much! Isn’t that right, guys?”**

**“Huh?”** Ripley wasn’t even paying attention.

**“You sure do, Xand.”**

This seemed to catch the octolings attention, however, prompting Ripley to respond. “ **_Xand_ ** **? What the** **_shell_ ** **kind of a nickname is that?”**

**“Just made it. What do you guys think? I think it works well with mine- Kampa, Kampachi, Xander, Xand. I’ll work on you guys next.”** Kampa smiled, wiggling a finger before holding it against their lips, seemingly pondering into the distance.

**“Oh Cod, please don’t think of a name for me.”** Wrasse snorted, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless from both Xander and Kampa. Feeling her pocket vibrate, she took out her phone, noting she had received several texts. Who was texting her right now?

💖💖 _ GRAYBAE _ 💖💖 _ : Hey. _

Yeah, of course it was him. Well, it’s not like he wasn’t welcome at this time- Cod knows she needed all the support she could get. 

💖💖 _ GRAYBAE _ 💖💖 _ : Just wanted to say good luck. Keep focused and you can kick their gluteouses. _

_ Lord of Squidkind: gluteouses? lol!!! thank u tho!  _ 💖💖 _ im gonna need it  _ 😔

💖💖 _ GRAYBAE _ 💖💖 _ : You’ve got this, Wrasse. Show them why you’re called Suckerpunch. _

That last line seemed to stick to her- a bit too much, actually. Why  _ were  _ they called Suckerpunch? Because it sounded cool, she had said originally,  _ and I wanted to sucker punch Tomini’s stupid fucking face. _ Because they were going to  **suckerpunch** team Whiteout into the depths of the turf league so hard, so they’d never be known ever again.

_ Ding-ding! First stop, Inkopolis Plaza. Ĉi tiu halto estas por Inkopolis Plaza. _

She forgot they had now been playing octonese after the inklish announcements. It was part of the statewide integration attempts of recent octoling immigrants, having had a mass influx due to the escape no longer being threatened by a demon amount of goo and computerized programming. That was something to look at positively, right? Even if she didn’t win, hey, at least she won in the long run of having helped octokind?  _ Yeah right _ . Helped Octokind see one of their saviors sucks at turf war and barely managed to help during the final battle.

_ Shut up about losing already!  _ She felt as though her brain found any excuse to just jump onto breaking and kicking whatever little self esteem she was left with, and perhaps a little bit of noise would help to shut it up. As the group walked out of the train and into the station behind the plaza, she reached into her back and found her headphones, plugging them into her squidphone and putting them over her ears. She would take anything over hearing the noise of her brain.

Going through her phone’s music, she left it on shuffle. The first song was by her own band- and helped to get her mind off of thinking about the battle. Following the rest of her team as they made their way to Ammo Knights, having booked the training room for the day.

Reaching the door of the shop, Xander held it open for the rest of his team, almost ushering them in.  **“Let’s get this bread, boys.”**

**“What if I have celiac?”** Of course Kampa said this shit. 

He hesitated at that, before giving in to their terrible joke and rephrasing.  **“L...let’s get this gluten free bread.”**

**“You are all terrible, and I want you to know this. You too, Wrasse. Wrasse? Hey, don’t ignore me when I’m scrutinizing you.”** Ripley snorted, waving a hand in front of Wrasse to catch her attention.

**“Wha? Oh.”** She had pulled down her headphones, rolling her eyes at his statement as they passed by Sheldon and his assistants. He seemed to have drawn in a good crowd, though noticeably they had been surrounding the new kensa line weapons. Of course, he had his own set of weapons, but those were to release a while from now. Meanwhile, it seemed the haunting simplicity of the kensa designs haunted Wrasse, staring at the weaponry with a sense of unease. Why was that?

_ Oh, right.  _

Because Kensa industries was Team Whiteout’s sponsor.  _ Cod DAMN IT!  _ Was there no escape of every damn memory of them?

 


	4. Xander is the only good squid to exist actually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wrasse has a panic attack and Ripley finally snaps

Ripley found himself situated a great deal away from the center of the fight, but a good enough distance to instantly target the inflatables and get them down with a series of rapid shots. While he managed to get the mimics of Damsel quite efficiently, he had only got a few shots in on Tomini’s target who had escaped his grasp. Kampa on the other hand had thrown themselves into the center of battle, inking around them and covering the turf before quickly dodging the fake Tomini within their ink, jumping out as an octoling behind him and splashing him down quickly. With two of the team down, it was now just the Hawke mimic and Angel mimic that remained.

Xander had stayed at the far back of the fight, watching his two teammates take on the now deflated squids before hurtling forward himself, diving straight into the ink of his team as a squid before dodge-rolling up the stairs, making sure to constantly zig zag as to in theory give the dummy an inaccurate shot for the real battle. If you kept moving, how could a goo-tuber get a shot on you? With his theory proven true, he had reached the top of the stairs and now dodge rolled one last time, getting behind the dummy for Hawke and shooting it with his splat dualies as fast as he could before it too popped like the rest of the targets.

All that was left was Angel’s dummy.

**“Come on, Wrasse! We’ve only got a limited amount of time before the targets reset- I set the dummies so that they only respawn at about the approximate time team whiteout themselves would!”** Waving her over, he hoped whatever strange fit she had been having earlier in the day would be done with by now. Surely she’d have her head in the game since- under the assumption it was this team she was frustrated with after all- she could finally vent said frustrations healthily, right?

Wrasse stood still, staring at the dummy for a moment. It didn’t move fast at all- it was actually as slow if not slower than the Damsel dummy. Heading forward, she had slipped into the ink of her team, swimming through it as fast as her not exactly pure ink speed up gear could get her. Even then, when she finally reached the dummy with her aerospray out, her heart suddenly felt as though it stopped beating.

She froze on sight.

She would’ve been splatted by now- her path was a straight line, she was slow in response, and here she was, face to face with her enemy, and should’ve been gone.

**“Well? What the** **_fuck_ ** **are you waiting for?!”** Ripley hissed, pissed off- and rightly so- by her ineptitude.

Still, she was silent, and found herself unable to do much anything. At the same time, the other dummies had now reinflated, the one of Tomini running into Kampa’s behind, whacking them and sending them falling on their face with a grunt. Hawke’s dummy had once again sprouted up, Xander sidestepping from it while Damsel’s dummy had also returned.

**“Ripley-”** Xander attempted to try to ease the room once again, only for Ripley to speak up once more. The octoling was angry, and had enough.

**“** **_NO!_ ** **I’m** **_SICK_ ** **of your fucking** **_EXCUSES!_ ** **You think just because you’re having a bad day you can take it out on the rest of us! I’m** **_SICK_ ** **of you acting so fucking** **_UPTIGHT_ ** **! Cod, with an attitude like that, I’m really surprised that Whiteout even bothered to replace you since you fit in so well!”**

**“** **_Ripley_ ** **!”** This time Xander’s words were stern, jumping off the edge of the balcony with a small splash in the ink below as he made his way to Wrasse, with Ripley and Kampa watching on in another silence.

**“Wrasse. We want to help you, and we want to beat whiteout just as much as you do. What’s wrong, man? You haven’t acted this miserable since we nearly died in the metro.”** He offered a hand to a now hunched over wrasse, only to see her raise her face that was now streaked with tears.

**_“I don’t want to be replaced again.”_ **

**“Replaced?”** The other inkling’s expression went from confused to wide eyed at the realization. She was still mourning the fact she had been so easily kicked off her team.

**“Oh no! Wrasse’s leaking. Ripley, do you have squid fluid?”**

**“** **_What_ ** **? Kampa, she’s not a fucking car. There’s no such thing as squid fluid besides ink.”**

**“That’s what you think! I’ll be back with squid fluid! Don’t worry Wrasse, I’ll save you!”**

**“Wh-** **_What the fuck does that mean?! Kampa? Kampa, where the fuck-”_ ** The octoling grew worried, chasing them out of the training room.

The two had turned to watch both Kampa and Ripley leave, before turning back to look at one another.

**“It’s not..”** Wrasse struggled to speak between constant sniffling, still losing the fight against her tears,  **“It’s not Ripley’s fault, you know. He’s right- about me, about how I am. I shouldn’t even be on this team. I shouldn’t be here at all.”**

**“Jeez, do you have jelly for brains or something? He’s frustrated, Cod knows we all are with how you didn’t exactly respond with the best timing. But we’re a team, and sometimes a team needs to work things out. Now let me get this clear, you’re afraid of going against the team that replaced you?”**

Inhaling sharply, she meekly nodded.

**_“Why?”_ **

That question surprised her. Why wasn’t she afraid of the team she had fought alongside with for years, that she grew to respect as her own siblings to a degree, that knew her every move and every step? Wasn’t it  _ obvious? _

**“You shouldn’t feel sympathy for people who got rid of you so quickly. That’s their loss, and they should be afraid of the fact they lost someone like you. Come on! Look at you, you’re a solid aerospray who always gets in the thousands in terms of turf covered. Why are you scared of a rag tag team with a- pardon my octoling-** **_shit for brains_ ** **leader, a roller who isn’t even a dynamo user, a goo tuber of all things, and a splatling when we have the best splatling user ever on our team?”**

**“Because they know how I’ll attack! There’s nothing I can do that’ll be different than what they’ve seen before.”**

**“Yes, but do you know what that means?”**

**“** **_What?”_ ** She felt desperate to get this conversation over, and more importantly, get back to the battle. This was stupid, she was wasting time, and worse, she was wasting her team’s time to prepare.

**“That you know all of their attacks too. There’s nothing- and I mean** **_nothing_ ** **that you haven’t seen them do either.”**

Shit. Holy  _ shit.  _

How had she not realized that?  _ Jee, thanks brain, really owe you that for not working apparently!  _

**“But- my replacement, the splatling-”**

**“Yeah, xe’s a heavy hitter, but you know what that means? You just gotta hit back harder. If you never fight new people, well then, turf war just grows old! Now, wipe those tears off of your face, we’ve got a strategy to try again.”**


	5. [bonus] inside the outsiders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HI! THIS CHAPTER, AND I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH, IS N O T WRITTEN BY ME! this was written by my good friend Ripley (he owns the character of the same name + Xander)
> 
> you can check him out on several sites such as  
> -dA: @ bioiizard https://www.deviantart.com/bioiizard  
> -tumblr: @tetradualiez https://tetradualiez.tumblr.com  
> -twitter: @tetradualies https://twitter.com/tetradualies
> 
> anyway, here's a fun different perspective featuring a bit of chapter 4 and 5 while also having off screen events!

Ripley silently steps into the training room, carrying his Ballpoint at his side. He doesn’t really want to drag Wrasse into training with the others, but he doesn’t have much of a choice; if Xander wants to deal with her moping, then fine. He watches as Wrasse slips past one of the training dummies and shoots it, taking… far too long to splat it. Whatever. Aeros weren’t meant to get splats anyway.

He partially charges up a shot and fires at the dummies, deflating both of them rather quickly after the Ballpoint switches to its long-ranged shots.

Wrasse whips around, eyes wide with shock, before relaxing when she sees who it is.

Ripley stifles an irritated huff -  _ did she really think I’m the Splatling she’s so worried about? _ Instead, he merely adjusts his grip on his weapon before flatly saying, “You done working out whatever’s bothering you alone.”

Wrasse remains silent, only irritating him further.

“Whatever,” he sighs, waving a hand dismissively. “Xander told me to come get you.” Surveying the training room through narrowed eyes, he adds, “Seems like you’ve worked on a lot in that time, huh.”

The red-eyed Octoling turns and, without waiting to see if Wrasse is even following, starts back toward the larger room, where Kampachi stands eagerly peering down the hall, their Bloblobber leaning against the wall.

Apparently, Wrasse had followed him. Kampa’s eyes light up and they bound toward the Inkling, chirping, “Wrasse! I just figured out how to do something cool, come on! Xander helped me think of a way for us to group up and attack almost the whole team! Can you believe that -- a quad!” They scoop up their Bloblobber and begin flicking it gleefully, not seeming to notice or care that it missed the targets this time.

Ripley isn’t sure why Kampa seems so happy to see Wrasse after the Inkling’s outburst earlier. He remains silent and watches Wrasse with a sharp eye as she enters the room and says, “A quad? From you? Hard to believe, guess you’ll have to prove it to me.” She seems to be making an attempt to be nicer, but Ripley only continues glaring at her.

Cod. If she has another outburst, he might really just lose it.

Seeing the two return, Xander grins. “Great, everyone’s here. Okay! So, I asked Sheldon to set up the targets different from normal so we can work on how to get each of them down.” Waving a hand toward the dummies, he continues, “Kampa, Ripley, can you two start? So Wrasse can get an example. I’ll follow, of course.”

Wrasse, however, seems distracted, staring at one of the dummies. “Holy shit? Why’s that one super fast?”

Ripley turns to look at the fastest-moving dummy - the one with what was supposedly Tomini’s face scribbled onto it in marker. Cod, what dumbass Slosher runs all Run Speeds? 

Hm. Was the marker permanent? Hopefully Sheldon didn’t want these dummies back.

Hearing his name, he snaps out of his thoughts, but relaxes when he sees that no one’s actually looking at him. Kampa must be explaining the drawing, then. 

Wrasse approaches the dummy and snorts, “Cod, it really does. I’d say it looks more like him than the real thing.”

Ripley turns to pick up his weapon as Xander turns to him and Kampa and asks, “You two ready?”

“Born ready,” the Octoling responds with a grin.

“Wait,” Kampa says suddenly, staring at him in shock, “we were  _ born _ ?”

Suppressing an irritated sigh, Ripley responds, “Don’t think too hard on it, Kampa.”

The taller Octoling grins and nods. “Roger that!”

“Go!” Xander’s abrupt signal snaps both Octolings back to attention, and both immediately rush forward. Ripley doesn’t move too far toward the “battle,” aware of what his role would be in a real match, before fully charging a shot and firing, inking a bit of the turf in front of him before switching into long range, where the Damsel mimic is caught right in the crosshair. The inflatable pops after a few precise shots, but by the time he’s caught up with the Tomini balloon, he’s run out of shots.

Unlike Ripley, Kampa had charged directly into the fray, flinging ink in front of them as they went. They caught the Tomini dummy and, with a well-aimed flick, manages to pop the inflatable. They give a sharp cheer of victory as Xander rushes past them, toward the Goo Tuber’s dummy. His movements are sharp and erratic - a good plan. A charger won’t get a good shot if someone is running around like that. With one last dodge roll, the Inkling rolls over to the dummy’s side and, with the more rapid fire that comes after a roll, takes down the mimic.

Angel’s dummy is the only one left. Ripley leans against the wall, watching Wrasse through narrowed eyes to see what she does.

“C’mon, Wrasse, there’s only a limited amount of time before the targets reset. It’s supposed to emulate how long it takes for them to actually respawn,” Xander explains quickly, waving her over. Despite his cheery attitude, he seems a bit nervous to see how Wrasse will act.

Wrasse stands still for a moment, observing the dummy. It doesn’t move too quickly - surprising, since Angel apparently used a Mini Splatling. Wrasse slips into squid form and swims quickly up to the dummy. After only a second or two, she reforms, Aerospray in hand, and Ripley actually thinks that  _ maybe _ she’s done moping.

Then she just freezes.

Ripley covers his face with his hands, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. Anger almost rolls off of him in waves - it’s apparent by the warning glance Xander gives him. But he can’t help it at this point. “What the fuck are you waiting for!?” he finally snaps. The Inkling doesn’t even look at him, still frozen to the spot.

By now, the other dummies had begun to inflate, one of them hitting Kampa and causing them to fall on their face. Xander avoids a similar fate by Hawke’s mimic, smoothly sidestepping it as it raises up behind him. He looks up and meets Ripley’s furious gaze, and nervously says, “Ripley--” in an attempt to get him to step down.

Ripley only glares at him before turning to face Wrasse, who’s still frozen in front of Angel’s dummy. He resists the urge to throw his Splatling at her and instead stiffly sets it on the floor with a clatter. Balling his hands into fists, he straightens back up before hissing, “No, I’ve had  _ enough _ of this shit.” He suddenly raises his voice, unable to keep his tone level anymore. “I’m sick of your fucking  _ excuses _ , Wrasse! You think that just because  _ you’re _ having a bad day that you can take it out on us and drag us down with you? I’m  _ sick _ of you acting so fucking uptight! Cod, with an attitude like that, I’m really surprised that Whiteout even bothered to replace you since you fit in so well with them!”

Harsh. He knows it’s harsh, but he can’t help it anymore.

Before he can say anything else, Xander sternly snaps, “Ripley!” He shoves past the Hawke dummy and approaches Wrasse, who had, at some point, sunken to the ground and covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking. 

Ripley can’t find anything else to say, so he only watches silently, his claws digging into his palms.

Xander kneels beside Wrasse and rests a hand on her shoulder, looking surprisingly calm. “Wrasse,” he says slowly, “we just want to help you. We want to beat Whiteout as much as you do, too. What’s wrong, man?” He stands and offers her a hand. In an attempt to lighten her mood, he adds, “You haven’t looked this miserable since we almost died in the Metro.” However, the light-hearted smile immediately drops from his face when Wrasse looks up, tears streaking her face.

“I don’t want to be replaced again,” Wrasse sobs, wiping her face with one hand.

“Replaced?” Xander echoes, his expression first confused before morphing into wide-eyed realization. “Oh.”

Ripley looks away. She was still upset over being replaced so easily by Angel.

Kampa suddenly chimes in, looking surprised. “Oh no! Wrasse is leaking,” they observe, frowning. Leave it to Kampa to say shit like this. Turning to Ripley, they ask, “Ripley, do you have any squid fluid?”

Ripley frowns. “What? She’s not a fucking car, Kampa. There’s no such thing as squid fluid. Besides ink.”

“That’s what you think,” Kampa protests. Turning to Wrasse, they say, “I’ll be back with some squid fluid! Don’t worry, Wrasse, I’ll save you!” With that, they turn and rush outside, the door slamming shut behind them.

Ripley stares after them in shock. “Wait, Kampa, what the fuck does that  _ mean _ ? Kampa!?” Immediately concerned that Kampa was about to do some dumb shit, he follows them outside, leaving the two Inklings alone in the training room.

Sheldon, hearing the rapid footfalls, looks up with a startled expression, but says nothing. He only continues working on what looks like a modified Squiffer.

Ripley steps outside and looks around, panicked at what crimes Kampa’s probably committing now. But the Square seems as peaceful as ever. Puzzled, Ripley scans the cephalopods gathered in the Square before he finally sees Kampa, waiting in line at the food truck toward the edge of the plaza.

He approaches, calling out, “Kampa? What are you doing?”

Kampa turns to face him and responds, “Getting squid juice? What does it look like?”

Ripley rolls his eyes. “Okay? What  _ is  _ squid juice, then?”

Kampa shrugs. “No idea. I just wanted you out of there so Wrasse can stop being so. Like That.”

Ripley, once again, feels a wave of anger wash over him. “Are you fucking  _ kidding _ ? If you’re trying to make excuses for Wrasse just like Xander was--”

“I’m not,” Kampa interrupts, shaking their head. “But she’s not gonna get over being replaced when someone keeps reminding her about it,” they say, turning back to watch the line in front of them.

“So what? We all have shit to deal with,” Ripley replies coldly. “It’s not fair to us that she’s dragging down the entire team’s performance because of her own problems.” He was aware that he was probably, definitely being petty now, but he wasn’t willing to lose a cod damn tournament because Wrasse couldn’t stop whining about her personal problems.

Kampa glances back at him, looking more serious than they had since… the Metro, probably. “People grieve differently. Sure, she was being dumb, but so were you.” Before Ripley could say anything, they continue, “You have to be patient. Give her time.”

The Octoling is… actually a bit shocked at Kampa’s words. This speech about being patient is coming from the exact same Octarian who had, just moments ago, sounded surprised about being born. What the fuck.

Instead of commenting on this, though, Ripley only shakes his head. “Whatever. I’m not apologizing.”

Kampa shrugs. “That’s fair. I don’t expect you to. But you gotta understand her process of getting over things and work with her pace. We all have to--” They pause, frowning as if thinking of what to say. “We handle things together, as a team. Like Xander said. That’s what we’ve been this long, right?”

Ripley looks away, nodding slightly. “Yes.”

Kampa grins, looking satisfied. “Good! Now,” they say, turning to approach the counter where Crusty Sean waits, “what drink do you want?” Taking a card from their pocket, they say, “I stole Wrasse’s debit card.”

Ripley huffs a disbelieving laugh. First a lecture about how to deal with Wrasse’s moping, then an immediate 180 into “I stole her card.” Kampa was horrifying. Ripley scans the drinks menu and shrugs. “A coffee, I guess.”

 

The two return. Kampa lies about the squid juice thing as they hand out smoothies to Wrasse and Xander. Wrasse’s mood seems to be lifted, fortunately enough; even so, Ripley remains cautious, unwilling to be the one to trigger another bad mood with a harsh outburst.

This training session turns out better than the first. Ripley takes down the Damsel mimic faster than last time, and nearly gets Tomini’s as well. Kampa, even though they somehow manage to slip on their ink, splats the weak mimic with a lucky flick (“I told you sloshers can be used without any skill,” Ripley snorts). Xander splats Hawke’s mimic the same as before, leaving just Angel’s dummy still standing.

“You can do it, Wrasse!” Kampa cheers. This seems to motivate Wrasse; the Inkling surges forward, turfing the floor in front of her, throwing a Burst Bomb at the face scribbled on the dummy, and slipping around and firing at its back until it finally deflates.

Xander grins and claps, while Kampa gives a loud cry of victory. Ripley inclines his head slightly. “Congratulations, you didn’t fuck up this time. I’m proud of you.” He picks up his coffee cup from where he’d set it and chugs the rest of his drink.

Kampa watches Wrasse with wide eyes. “That bomb usage was perfect! Can I use Burst Bombs like that, too?”

Ripley snorts. “You don’t have Burst Bombs. Your weapon determines your sub and special.”

Kampa turns to him and retorts, “Yeah? Well, that won’t stop me if I just steal them from someone!”

“Kampa, I’m begging you, stop threatening to commit crimes for two seconds.”

Xander cuts in with a huff. “Both of you, be quiet! Wrasse, you did great. Careful with the bombs though; you hesitated too long for comfort.”

Ripley carefully places his weapon back in its case. He calls back over his shoulder, “Xander’s right. If that had been me, I would have been able to reload enough shots to push you back. Watch yourself for that.” He rises, hoisting the strap of the case over his shoulder. 

“But it’s not Ripley,” Xander says, “it’s Angel. We’ll have to see how quick xe reacts. Still, though, better safe than sorry.” He straightens and claps his hands together. Ignoring the obnoxious noise of Kampa sucking air out of their empty drink cup, the Inkling announces, “Alright, that wraps up our training! It looks like someone else will come in soon and I don’t want to bother Sheldon any more than I have already.” 

A loud banging at the door makes Ripley flinch. He immediately curses himself for it; the lack of constant noise here made him sensitive to every sudden sound. He’d been trained to expect noises like this back in the Octarian army, where there was a constant source of noise, so this was embarrassing.

As Xander begins to pack up his weapons, he calls, “Come in! We’re just about to head out.”

The door opens, and Ripley leans over to see who’s standing there.

Cod damn it. Team Whiteout.

He crushes the cup he was holding in one hand, feeling his previous anger rising yet again. Just when he’d thought this shit was over.

The tense silence is broken when Hawke mumbles under their breath, “Ah shit, here we go again.” They’re immediately elbowed in the side by Damsel, who, in a much friendlier tone, greets Wrasse with a “long time, no see.”

Tomini gives Wrasse a withering glare. “Yeah, more like  _ all _ time, no see. She’s not on your team anymore. Anyone remember why that is?”

Ripley almost throws the crushed coffee cup at the Inkling. Of course he’d try to pick a fight like this. 

Angel doesn’t have much of a reaction to… any of this, really. They only look around curiously at the training room, their Mini Splatling case hanging over one shoulder. 

“No one asked, Tomini,” Damsel hisses before anyone can snap back at him. She already seems irritated by the team’s leader - cod, why did  _ any _ of them stay with Tomini if he acts like this all the time?

Before Tomini can reply, Hawke grins at Wrasse. “Look at you! All dolled up and ready to go with your cool new team. Think you can mess with us, huh?” Fortunately, Hawke doesn’t seem to be trying to pick a fight, though Ripley wasn’t sure how willing Wrasse was to joke with them now.

To his surprise, Wrasse snorts. “Dude, you look like you just woke up. Don’t talk like that until you’re actually awake.”

“Damn. Touche,” Hawke replies and shrugs. “Perhaps I did take a nap.”

Damsel cuts in with a huff. “ _ Perhaps? _ You were fucking knocked out until I dragged you out of your room this evening. How the fuck do you sleep for so long?”

Ripley is surprised at the weird shift in tone as Wrasse banters with her former teammates. He notices Xander and Kampa edging toward the door, clearly set on leaving while the rival team was distracted. He taps Wrasse on the shoulder to signal that they were leaving before turning and heading for the door.

Tomini snaps, “Where the fuck do you think you’re going, Aerospray?”

Ripley tenses, glancing between Wrasse and Tomini as if expecting a fight to break out right now.

Damsel sighs irritably. “Let her go, Tomini. You can be arrogant  _ after _ we win.”

Ripley, grateful for Damsel being the one smart person on the other team, mumbles, “As if.” He was planning on leaving them with that, but as he turns to leave, Tomini’s voice rises behind the group.

“S’cuze me, prettyboy?” The Inkling laughs before watching him for a moment. “You’re an awfully cute Octoling. Too bad I’ll have to beat your ass into the ground later. At least you’ll put up a fight unlike that sea-rat you’ve got on your team.” He gestures toward Wrasse with one hand. 

Ripley almost rips out his throat right then but, for the sake of not getting his team disqualified - and not  _ literally killing someone _ \- he remains still. “Says you,” he snaps back, narrowing his eyes.

“Oof, you’re breaking my heart, buddy,” Tomini responds dramatically. “I like someone who bites back though,” he adds, grinning.

Damsel looks as if she wants to just sink into the floor and die. Ripley feels exactly the same, but before he can go fucking ballistic Damsel and Hawke pull Tomini away by his shoulders. 

Just when Ripley thought it was over, Tomini says, “See this target, Wrasse?”

Ripley notes that the target Tomini was pointing out was the same one Kampa had drawn the Inkling’s face on. How ironic.

“It’s stupid, useless, and can’t fight back,” Tomini growls. “Remind you of anyone?”

Now Ripley steps forward, his hands curled into fists. “Shut up, Tomini,” he says, voice low. The Inkling was taking this too far now. Despite the Octoling’s clear threat, none of the members of Whiteout even steps forward, as if happy to let Tomini get beat up.

Tomini whips around to face him, eyes narrowed. “I don’t mind an attitude,” he snaps. “But you  _ don’t _ speak over me, especially when I’m not even talking to you.” Without giving Ripley a chance to respond, Tomini faces Wrasse once again, picking up his Tri-Slosher. “Now look here, Wrasse. This target? It’s in my way. And you know what happens to morons who get in my way?” 

Tomini lifts his slosher as if preparing to attack the dummy, but doesn’t break eye contact with Wrasse. Is this an attempt to be intimidating? It looks more like a really tense staring contest. Suddenly Tomini flicks the slosher, and just before it makes contact with the dummy, Ripley notices something sharp glinting on the edge of the bucket.

Ripley winces at the sharp noise the dummy makes as it pops. Hawke stares in shock, speechless.

“They get splatted. And they don’t come back.” Tomini stands over the ragged pieces of the destroyed target, still glaring coldly at Wrasse.

Hawke recovers from their shock and cries, “Tomini, what the _ fuck _ !? We have to pay for that, dumbass!” They desperately flail the remains of the target around, as if that would somehow fix it. 

Damsel merely remains silent, grabbing Tomini by the shoulder and forcing him to finally break eye contact with Wrasse. She waves a silent goodbye to her former teammate while Hawke attempts to collect the tattered pieces of the dummy.

Ripley turns to leave but sees Angel, still standing where they’d been this entire time. They didn’t seem to have reacted to anything that just happened, only watching their teammates impassively. Their gaze meets Ripley’s briefly before looking past him, to Wrasse. He turns and glances between the two as Angel signs something to his teammate. 

Aware that this was probably Inkling sign language - which he didn’t know shit about - Ripley waits until Angel stops signing before he grabs Wrasse’s elbow and leads her out, saying, “Let’s go, Wrasse! I’ve had enough of that fucking freak.”


	6. team whiteout is about to eat an entire ballpoint. monch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ripley and wrasse try to work things out again. but uh oh, its bastard time!

**“I got smoothies!”**

**“That’s not squid juice, Kampa.”** With a hand against his forehead, Ripley merely shook in dismay. 

**“Oh darn, I forgot to get squid juice. But I got you your favorite- mango pineapple!”** Kampa walked over to the two, taking the medium sized smoothie out of the cardboard container and handing it to the inkling who now had wiped away her tears, smiling at Kampa.

**“Thank you, Kampachi. I owe you after this, okay? Remind me and we’ll stop by Inkbucks later and get you a cakepop.”** As she spoke, Kampa handed a strawberry banana smoothie to Xander in the meantime, while Ripley seemed to be drinking black coffee.  _ Eugh _ .  _ How does he drink that stuff? _

**“That’ll be after we win, Missy. Are you ready to actually turf, or what?”** Ripley spoke up, not as aggressive as his prior statements were, but still on edge about her.

**“Yeah. Come on, Mr. Ballpoint, why don’t you show me how your stupid huge aerospray works?”**

**“Don’t you dare compare your little pea gun to my ballpoint ever again, thanks.”** Though snarky, the furrow in his brow seemed to disappear- and whatever distrust he had with the inkling was spared for now. If she acted up again, however, that would be a different story. At least for now she was back to her usual sarcastic, annoying self. Well,  _ the tolerable  _ kind of annoying.

Getting back in their previous positions, the group now stood in their spots, ready for Xander to hit the switch again as the dummies were reset.

**“Ready this time?”** Xander asked, though to no one in particular.

**“** **_Ready!”_ ** Both Ripley and Kampa spoke, staring at Wrasse once more, who responded with a bit of a delayed,  **“Ready.”**

_ “ _ **_Let’s go, Suckerpunch! Show them what you’re made of!”_ **

The damsel dummy was down quicker than last time, Ripley clearly having made more of a precise calculation as to the best spot to get her down. Still, his shots reached the Tomini dummy, but only one shot was left to get him down, and he had ran out of range from his distance. Kampa once more stood up to bat, racing forward, though this time, it seemed interesting enough xe had slipped in their ink rather than swam in it, yet still managed to blindly get the Tomini dummy.

**“I’m telling you, sloshing weapons can be used by anyone without skill!”** Ripley snorted, though Kampa got up and merely grinned.  **“You’re just jealous because my bloblobber is cooler than your pen looking gun!”**

Rolling his eyes at the two, Xander stepped in for his part, making his way once more up the stairs and dodgerolling, this time getting Hawke at a lower step than he did before to test his own range. All that was left was once again Angel’s dummy.

**“You can do it, Wrasse!”** Kampa’s word of encouragement resonated with her, providing her the strength to clear the panic that filled her head once more. Exhaling, she dashed forward: inking the turf before her as she went until she had a clear path in front of her, doing her best to meander in path as to not have the splatling assumingly get her in the real fight. Doing so, she found herself once again face to face with the dummy at a much closer range, throwing a burst bomb to hopefully temporarily blind Angel before slipping around xer, and shooting them in the back.

_ Fwoof! _

The dummy deflated.

**“Congratulations, you** **_didn’t_ ** **fuck up this time. I’m proud of you.”** Ripley chugged the rest of his coffee at this point. His compliment was almost as bitter as that coffee, but the end part seemed to at least make a weak smile form on Wrasse’s face.

The other octoling spoke up, surprised.  **“Woah! That bomb usage was perfect- can I use burst bombs like that too?”**

Ripley chimed in,  **“No, your weapon provides you your sub. You don’t even have burst bombs.”**

**“Oh yeah? Well that can’t stop me if I steal them from someone!”**

**“Kampa, I’m begging you, stop committing crimes and saying ominous things for two seconds.”**

**“Both of you, hush! Wrasse, you did great! Be careful with that bomb though- you hesitated a bit too long for comfort.”**

Crushing the paper cup and dropping it in the recycling bin near the entrance of the bigger training room, Ripley spoke loudly so Wrasse would be able to hear.  **“Xander’s right. If it was me, I would’ve been able to reload enough to get you down for the count. Watch yourself with that.”**

**“But it isn’t Ripley, it’s Angel. We’ll have to see how quick xe reacts. Still, better safe than sorry. Alright folks, that wraps up our training time! It looks like someone else will be coming in soon, and I don’t want to bother Sheldon any more than we’ve asked of him already.”** Clapping his hands together, Xander spoke over the obnoxious noise of Kampa sucking the straw of xer clearly empty drink. Wrasse, on the other hand, continued to sip their smoothie.

_ Bang, bang, bang! _

Xander shouted over his shoulder as he began to pack up his things,  **“Come in! We’re just about to head out anyway.”**

The door to the training room shut open, and before Team Suckerpunch stood the last squids on earth they wanted to see: Team Whiteout.

**“Ah shit, here we go again.”** Hawke groaned, while Damsel proceeded to elbow them in the gut.

**“Hey Wrasse! Long time no see.”** Though the other inkling’s comment was considerate, the death-yearning glare from the leader of the quad felt as though it was burning holes through Wrasse’s head.

**“Yeah, all the time no see. She’s not on your team anymore. Anyone remember why?”** Of course he spoke up. Of course he was trying to pick a fight this fucking early.

**“No one asked, Tomini.”** Damsel bit back. It was a reminder of the one friend Wrasse felt she truly made while with the other team, though now she questioned the existence given the situation at hand.

**“Lookit you! All dolled up and ready to go with your cool new team. You think you can mess with us, huh?”** Hawke’s competitive nature was equally as playful as Damsel’s words, though teasing nonetheless.

**“Dude, you look like you just woke up from bed. Don’t talk until you wake up.”** Wrasse snorted back, the rest of her team glancing on nervously at the fact she was willing to talk with them still.

**“Damn, touche. Perhaps I did take a nap.”**

“ **_Perhaps_ ** **? You were fucking knocked out until I dragged you out of your room this evening. How the** **_fuck_ ** **do you sleep for so long?”** The banter had shifted between the two, and with that, it seemed team Suckerpunch took that as an opportunity to slip past the group. Best not to start a fight they were to handle much later in the day.

Wrasse had been oblivious to this, before a tap on her shoulder from Ripley alerted her back to the world around her. Realizing what her team was doing, she figured she’d follow lead, taking a few steps after them until she found herself glued to the floor as Tomini barked once more.

**“Hey, where the fuck do you think** **_you’re_ ** **going, Aerospray?”**

 


	7. tomini abt to become to microscopic after Ripley is done killing this clown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this posted out of order god fucking damn it ao3. anyway Ripley is about to fucking kill all of team whiteout, Hawke and damsel are the only sane ones besides angel while tomini has rabies

Damsel groaned.  **“Let her go, Tomini. You can be arrogant after we win.”**

**“** ** _As if you will.”_** Ripley snorted, his eyes squinting at the sight of the team as they now stood close to the door. If it was needed, they could escape quickly, but for now it seemed as though the octoling refused to back down. He had enough with the annoying attitudes today, apparently.

“ **S’cuze me, prettyboy?”** The mohawk-headed inkling merely laughed, before shaking his hand.

**“You’re an awfully cute octoling. Too bad I’ll have to beat that ass into the ground later. At least you’ll put up a fight unlike that sea-rat you’ve got on your team.”**

**“Says you?”**

**“Oof, you’re breaking my heart, buddy. I like someone who bites back though.”** Cod above, why did he talk like this? Did Tomini  _ ever  _ think before he spoke? Like, ever? The expression on both Hawke and Damsel’s face seemed to reflect this thought, both grabbing him by the shoulder and trying to pull him away. Even Ripley was made uncomfortable.

**“Look here Wrasse. You see this target?”** Wrasse wasn’t sure whether to laugh in nervous fear or in absolute hysterics at the fact he had walked over to the same damn target Kampa drew over with a little stupid Tomini face.

**“It’s stupid, useless, and can’t fight back. Remind you of anyone?”**

Despite the fact the rest of the team was out, and Kampa had actually opened the exit door by a crack, the duo stood there regardless. That is, until Ripley really had the audacity to whip out his heavy splatling, aiming it right at the inkling.

**“Shut up already.”**

**“I don’t mind an attitude. But you** **_don’t_ ** **speak over me, especially when I’m not even talking to you. Now look here, Wrasse. This target? It’s in my way. And you know what happens to morons who get in my way?”** He readied his slosher, holding it up to above waist level by the handle, yet kept eye contact with Wrasse. It was arguably the worst staring contest Wrasse felt she had participated in yet.

He flicked his wrist, the bucket and ink inside going forward, but something Wrasse noticed was a glimmer- a strange one at that- before the ink.

A needle.

_ POP! _

**“They get splatted. And they** **don’t** **come back.”** He stood over the now deflated target, which had lost all the air it constantly refilled. The hole within it had now grown large, and the crumpled mess of plastic fell to the ground in a pathetic heap.

**“Tomini, what the** **_fuck!_ ** **We have to pay for the damage we just caused to Sheldon’s dummy!”** Hawke shouted, reaching down and desperately flailing it around, hoping by some miracle it would fix itself. Damsel, on the other hand, just waved to Wrasse as a silent goodbye, before grabbing Tomini and turning him around. 

Unlike the rest of xer team, Angel hadn’t reacted throughout the entire experience. In fact, Wrasse wondered if xe was even alive to begin with, or just as sentient as the now “dead” Tomini dummy. Yet, xer eyes locked with Wrasse, and xe lifted xer hands briefly. 

Forming strange hand gestures, Wrasse found herself truly unable to function at the living, breathing sight of her replacement. Before she could even begin to process what xe meant, the octoling besides her spoke.

**“** **_Let’s go,_ ** **Wrasse! I’ve had enough of that fucking freak.”** Grabbing Wrasse by the elbow, Ripley pulled her out of the room, pushing out of the door and back into Sheldon’s store, before reaching the exit of the weapon room and getting back outside to Inkopolis square.

**“You know how I said you’re as fucking annoying as them? I take it back, that dude is the fuckin’ pond scum of this world.”**

Processing that rather slowly as she heard the jingle of the bell above Sheldon’s door, Wrasse questioned  **“And what does that make me?”**

Ripley clearly hadn’t given his analogy as much thought as Wrasse was putting into it.  **“Like, an amoeba or some shit? I don’t know, but don’t get on your high seahorse about me saying that. You still need to work on not being** **_as_ ** **annoying, or I might mistake you for them in battle and go ape shit on you.”**

Given their lack of really speaking after Ripley had snapped at her earlier, it was nice to have a much lighter-hearted conversation with him now. It wasn’t much, but it was certainly something to satisfy the fear of her team turning against her.  **“Fair enough.”**

**“Cod, what the heck took you guys so long! I nearly peed myself waiting for you to get outside!”** Kampa shouted, straw dangling from their mouth as despite having thrown out their cup they still kept the straw to chew on. Xander, on the other hand, was finishing his smoothie as he hadn’t had time to drink it earlier.

**“Kampa, that’s gross.”**

**“Well so is Tomini!”**

“ **Oh wow I hate the fact you said it, but you’re right on that.”** Groaning, Wrasse turned to face Xander, who had now finished his smoothie.

**“Alright gang, looks like we have a solid hour before we finally start. I was actually going to go meet up with Sable and Val for a bit- if that’s alright with you guys? I figure we’d meet up a half hour before we start at the lobby. And Kampa?”**

**“Hm?”**

His voice went awfully serious for a minute.  **“** **_No eating!_ ** **Don’t snack on anything, I don’t want you puking on someone again like you did in the semifinals!”**

**“But we won that because of my strategy!”**

**“That’s not a strategy! Yes, we won, but then Humuhumu was out of battle for weeks because they were haunted with the fact you puked on them! In** **_BATTLE!”_ **

Reaching for Kampa’s shoulder, Ripley merely patted them.

**“You really are a gremlin, huh? We can’t feed you past midnight anymore.”**

**“Aw. But I’m always hungry!”**

**“We’ll get a victory dinner at Spagheteels, okay? For now, one of you,** **_please_ ** **make sure Kampa doesn’t get anything in their guts.”** The aforementioned restaurant specialized in pasta dishes that came from the now long gone human state of Eeltaly. That was a history lesson for later though.

**“I’ll watch ‘em. Take care, Xander. Come on Kampa, let’s go set up our gear for the match. I think you had enough chunks to finally fill up those shades of yours.** “

**“Really?! Now I can really become a gremlin in the last 30 seconds of battle!”**

Making their way over to the shady hideout of Murch, Xander waved goodbye to the two octolings and to the leftover inkling, who now found herself standing alone in the center of the square. 

What was she going to do for a half hour? Panic?  _ Probably.  _


	8. boys... lets get to it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you wish you had a boyfriend like Benkei. hit or miss, scoot came for wrasse's fucking ribs, huh?  
> its time for the real match, boys.

Finding an empty table near Crusty Sean’s food truck, she sat down, opening her phone and looking through her social medias. Finstagram seemed awfully full of boring personal posts as of late- _I really need to clear the people I follow, huh?-_ and it seemed that Squidter was full of way too much boring drama. Yes, she loved watching ridiculous call-out videos, but she felt so empty today. What was a good distraction?

_VRRT!_

Getting a notification of a text from Benkei, she swiped down to open up her conversation with him.

💖💖 _GRAYBAE_ 💖💖 _: Hey. How did practice go?_

_Lord of Squidkind: good lol! I got yelled at by my team (i deserved it dw) and then tomini gave me a death threat. Its good_

💖💖 _GRAYBAE_ 💖💖 _: Hm. I don’t particularly like that. Should I consider talking to Tomini?_

_Lord of Squidkind: nah. Its ok!!! hey wait actually i have a whole half hour do you mind if I vidcall you instead?_

💖💖 _GRAYBAE_ 💖💖 _: Go ahead._

_Ding Ding._

The constant video call buffer noise echoed as Wrasse proceeded to take out her headphones again, plugging them into her phone as he finally picked up the call.

**“Hey.”**

**“Hey yourself!”** Noting the loud noise and the background he was in, she realized he was in fact at a cafe near the apartment, their sea urchin friend in the background and absolutely going off on the drums. **“You two gonna practice?”**

**“Nah. Scoot invited me here cause he broke a drum.”**

**“Woah! Scoot, dude, what the fuck!”**

**“Hey! Language.”**

**“Somedays you gotta hit a hard b note with all your might!** ” Scoot’s high pitched voice was always fun to hear- Wrasse had wondered why he never considered doing a vocal bit in a song. Perhaps she ought to bug him about that later.

**“With reasonable amounts of might, Scoot. We’re not made of enough cash to afford another drum set after this one for a bit.”**

**“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Hey, Wrasse! You ready to…”** He did a quick drumroll bit, before stopping at the cymbal, speaking once more, **“Kick some…. wrASS!”** Doing the classic “badum-tsh” with his new set, Benkei groaned before turning the phone back to face him.

**“Both of you need to eat soap at this point. But he’s right, are you ready to rumble?”**

**“I guess. I’m ready as I’ll ever be, you know?”**

**“Isn’t that a song from a kid’s show?”**

Snorting, Wrasse shook her head. **“Scoot,** **_why_ ** **do you know that?”**

**“What? My little sister watches tv, am I not allowed to watch alongside her?”**

Ignoring Scoot’s comments, Benkei continued on. **“You polished your Aerospray? Double checked your super and your subs work? Made sure your trigger doesn’t jam?”**

**“I’m fine, Benkei, really. If you’re so worried, why don’t** **_you_ ** **take my place instead?”**

**“Benkei in turf? The thought makes me shit myself! Augh!”** Proceeding to once again make a dramatic drum roll once more, Scoot waited for Benkei to speak once again.

**“Oh, you both make me so tired. Besides, I wouldn’t be any good in turf if I could. I’d probably just focus on getting rid of my enemies.”**

**“Hah! Wish I could do that.”**

**“That’s what you get with an aerospraaaay!”** Scoot did another drum roll, though this time it soured Wrasse’s mood.

**_“Hey!”_ **

**“Is for seahorses!”** _Badum-tsh._ Scoot must’ve really had some strong coffee or something this morning.

**“Anyway, don’t worry, you’ll do fine. Oh- how was team whiteout besides… the apparent death threat?”**

Scoot gasped. **“Death threat? 911, what’s your emergency!”**

**“It’s fine. Tomini talks a bunch of shit- Damsel and Hawke have my back. The last one of them… I’m not so sure.”**

**“Angel, right? That’s xer name?”**

**“Yeah.”** It felt weird to hear Benkei say xer name. It’s not like he meant it in a negative or positive way, why did that bug her? Shoving that thought aside, she tried to remember something specifically she had associated with xer, before realizing what specifically it was.

**“Oh! Benkei, you’ve been taking SSL- Squid sign language- right?”**

**“Yes. What about it?”**

**“Angel- xe signed something at me and I didn’t understand what xe had said. If I signed it to you, could you tell me what it meant?”**

**“I can try, but it depends if Angel might have a heavy accent. Show me it regardless.”**

Setting up the stand on her phone, she pulled away from it and proceeded to use both her hands to mimic the same sign that Angel did. However, as she did it, she noted being a lot slower in motion as well as less fluid going from movement to movement.

Holding a hand to his chin, Benkei commented her actions first. **“Wow, you’re really bad at squid sign language.”**

**“** **_What!_ ** **Both of you are being so mean to me today! Can** **_someone_ ** **be nice to me, just once?”** Wrasse whined, glaring through her phone’s camera.

**“Alright, alright. Okay, I think you meant an open hand during that sliding motion, but I think… I think xe said** **_“Good luck.”_ **

_Good luck._

She sure needed it, huh?

_Inkoming call from: Xander._ _  
_ **“Ah shit, I gotta go! I’m running late, I talked to you both for so long! You guys will be here, won’t you?”**

**“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”**

**“I would if the world was made of gummy worms.”**

**“We’ll see you there. We might be late- Scoot still needs to get ready to leave. Believe in yourself, Wrasse. And don’t forget to breathe. You’ve got this.”** Pressing the hang up button rather quickly, she wished she had more time to distract herself, before swiping right on the next call she was prompted with.

**“Hey Wrasse! You ready? Me and Kampa are at the lobby, Ripley went to change his gear one last time.”**

**“I’ll be there in five.”** Hanging up, the squid got up from her seat and pushed the metal chair in for whoever was to sit in it next, heading towards the center of the square to the big, glowing lobby. As she walked towards it, she noted the crowd had suddenly doubled itself around the area. Where did all these squid kids come from?

**“Hey, look, it’s Wrasse from Team Suckerpunch!”**

**“Whiteout’s gonna getcha! You better run, squiddo!”**

**“Good luck! Don’t get splattered too much!”** This was overwhelming. No wonder they had met up in the lobby a half hour earlier- the crowd must’ve grown worse and even more overbearing the later they arrived. Pushing past the relatively small group of squids and octolings, she got to the door of the Lobby and entered, the puffer fish guards before the lobby reaching out and preventing anyone else from entering as they inflated.

**“Wrasse! Took you long enough. How you feeling?”**

**“You know how you said Kampa would be the one to puke? I think it might be me.”**

**“Oh? On Cod?”** The octoling tilted their head, the glow of their octoling shades enhanced by the neon lights within the lobby.

**“On Cod, if you do, I’m going to kill you.”** Ripley announced as he returned from the changing rooms, ready with his favorite flannel hoodie with a noticeable trans flag patch on it as well as his favorite black octoling boots.

**“I won’t. Not yet. Maybe on you though.”** Wrasse teased, running a hand over her satin jacket to ease the creases in it.

**“I won’t hesitate, bitch.”** Aiming his ballpoint nouveau at her, he grinned back, though more so excited to genuinely do so.

**“Ripley, no, she wasn’t ready!”** Kampa laughed, sporting their comfy black kensa sweater and rather small shorts with their orca hi-tops.

Taking over the conversation, Xander spoke loudly, in the voice he used whenever he wanted to get their ink flowing.  **“Alright, you absolute clowns, are we all ready?”**

**“** **_Shell yeah!”_ ** The team shouted back at him, a proud grin on his face at the sight of his team, his splat dualies held near his waist against his black inky rider with a little trans button on it as well.  _ Damn, I need to get myself one of those soon.  _ Perhaps that would be their “look” to counter the snobiness of Team Whiteout with their Kensa gear.

**“I said, are you ready!”**

**“** **_SHELL YEAH!”_ **

**_“FUCK YEAH!”_ **

**_“YEEHAW!”_ **

Each of them had different responses this time, but couldn’t help but be proud of what they had. They had made it this far, what could stop them now?

**“Who are we!”**

**“** **_TEAM SUCKERPUNCH!”_ **

**_“_ ** **And what are we here to do?”**

**“** **_WE’RE GONNA SUCKER PUNCH YOU!”_ **

**_“I said WHAT ARE WE HERE TO DO!”_ **

**_“SUCKER PUNCH YOU!”_ ** Reaching out, each team member put out a hand into the center of their small huddle, pulling away at the final word of their chant. 

**“Team Suckerpunch, ready when you are.”** The hammerhead shark who was the leader of the tech crew at the lobby waved off to them before heading to the small buffet table, grabbing a bagel.

**“Wait, can I get-”**

**“** **_No!”_ ** Everyone grabbed onto Kampa, dragging them with the group as they set out to the now glowing, active launch pad.

Offering each other one last smile of support, the team proceeded to change into their alternative cephalopod forms. Now in their ink, they waited, before the countdown began.

_ Three. _

This was it.

_ Two. _

This would seal their fate in the turf war league forever.

_ One! _

The travel was fast- which was, after all, the purpose of having the teams wait on launch pads. The map required a single second to process, before the group realized where they were: The reef.

The hidden cameras weren’t exactly all that hidden, nor the crews operating them. Focusing on both Team Whiteout and then Team Suckerpunch, the recording above head showed each of them rising from their spawns, getting ready and standing still. 

As the opening battle music played for the tv-friendly version of the fight, the team seemed poised, ready to strike once given the call.

A clownfish had taken a mic, speaking from where, Wrasse had no idea.  **“Let’s give it up for the official 20X9 turf war league finals! Alright, team whiteout, team suckerpunch, let’s get right to it! Let this turf war… BEGIN!”**   
  



	9. baby hotline, please hold wrasse close to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wrasse goes up against team whiteout for real. and against angel. it doesn't look so hot, chief

The reef was best described as a plaza in between several shopping malls, with a bridge between two large multi layered platforms featuring parking spots on both sides. In the center was a small grassy patch with a few trees near the bridge that was above it. Vending machines were near the spawn- a spot to visit after the match was done, perhaps. Advertisements covered the walls, along with graffiti and brand logos here and there.

But of course, Wrasse had no time to appreciate any of the architecture of this place. Instead, she inked her way to the center of the stage, leaving her base as she knew she could probably take it the next time she was over there. Given her luck, the odds were high enough that she’d be shot down soon enough and have to respawn anyway. _Stop that attitude already!_ Why was it so hard to keep positive in this fight? The match had just barely even started!  
Jumping down from her spawn, she passed by the small skateboard store near the entrance, careful not to step on it. It seemed as though another one of her teammates was not as successful.

 **“Hey Ripley, check this out-** **_oh SHIT-”_ **Kampa squealed out, before being sent headfirst forward, falling into their ink.

Groaning, the other octoling merely ignored their actions and raised his ballpoint nouveau to fire further than Wrasse could, setting up a singular path to get to the center before the group would split up to use their individual strategies against their respective opponent.

Following through the path that the team had made, they went down the small path to the parking lot area of the map, passing by some parked cars to get to the center stage. The center stage was a bridge with a high point that a certain someone with a goo-tuber could easily snipe certain people out of. To have control over it essentially meant to get rid of one major player, but that wasn’t to say they couldn’t get someone from the higher up platforms of the base. Checking the map, Wrasse stopped briefly to note that Team Whiteout had made an even stronger push towards the bridge. The difference between them had been that Team Whiteout’s base was completely inked, while Team Suckerpunch was sporadically covered in a single line aside from the few spare shots that were out of focus. They were also now approaching the bridge, the aforementioned goo-tuber taking a crack at getting Wrasse.

 _BLAM!_ The shot had gotten Wrasse, but somehow didn’t deal enough in one hit. With whatever luck she had managed to haul out of her ass, she was going to desperately live for as long as she could in this current spawn. Hauling ass to get out of the way, she watched the rest of her team separate at the bridge, with Ripley and Kampa occupying themselves in getting Team Whiteout to have to respawn first, while Xander focused on turfing as much as he could right now.

 _Right, I should probably do that._ Reminding herself that this was a match of turfing the most of the map, she snapped back into her senses, heading to the left of the grass clearing and passing by the two trees positioned there. Holding the trigger for her Aero, she let loose and watched as the area found itself covered rather rapidly, that is, before a sudden stray white ink shot had found its way right behind her once again. The dreaded goo-tuber.

Hawke had gotten a clean shot on Kampa, as Wrasse beheld the octoling fly their way back to the spawner. Ripley had used Kampa has an octoling shield, though unintentionally, and had managed to hide out to the parking area as he recovered his ink. Hearing another familiar noise, she watched as the ever so fast bastard himself, Tomini, made his way to the center of the stage. Having recovered with his ink amount, Ripley lunged forward.

The ballpoint aimed rapidly at the fast target, managing to get a few shots on the fast slosher before he had ran out once again. **“Stop running, you coward!”** Ripley hissed, though found himself now running as to get his ink back. Before he could fully make it back to the other side of the lot once more, a wave of ink got him right in his back, his octopus form now flying back to the stage and grumbling curse words in octoling that Wrasse had never heard of before.

Kampa had now returned to the playing field, super-jumping over to Wrasse before inking the wall right under the bridge as to sneak up onto the bridge. Getting to the bridge, they launched a clear set of bubbles at Tomini, the slosher getting hit by them all yet still somehow moving towards them. In a fit of panic, they set down their subweapon, being a sprinkler. _What the shell was a sprinkler supposed to do?!_

He was splatted. By a sprinkler.

 **“RIPLEY DID YOU SEE THAT?!”** Kampa spoke over the private communication lines the team had, through small little blue snail headphones they each had.

 **“I DID, AND I HATED IT! THANKS KAMPA!”** Ripley snorted, super jumping over to them and still laughing at the sight of the still present sprinkler.

 **“Alright, he’s down, we need to work on the rest of them- wait, where’s Xander?”** Kampa paused to check the map for a second, only to see the dualie wielder managing to get the roller down thanks to his handy dodge-roll saving him from a splat that would’ve gotten him.

 **“That’s two! Alright, all we have to worry about are the long range ones. They can’t be that bad.”** Ripley snorted, turning to face Kampa who had already gone in a splash of white ink.

 **“I assure you, I pack more of a punch than most of my friends.”** Hawke spoke, raising their goo tuber to aim at Ripley, who merely ran away quickly but not before setting up an ink storm. Hopefully he could recover enough ink in time to jump right back into it. For now, he found himself a much safer spot near his base’s parking spot, and set up a squid beakon for everyone else to jump to.

Damsel had finally returned to the spawner as it seemed that the entire other parking area had been completely covered. Who had been there, and better yet, who had the range to cover that much so rapidly?

 _Oh no._ Wrasse realized she had made a drastic mistake covering the area near the other lot. Within mere seconds, rapid fire blasts had come towards her way, covering the turf she had just stood on.

 **“Don’t freeze up, Wrasse!”** Ripley’s voice cut in through her communicator, yet it seemed to come across as deaf noise.

The sight of her replacement in person had truly put her in a paralysis of a kind. Xe wore a skull bandana, anchor sweater and black boots that Wrasse forgot the name of. It didn’t matter anyway, what did matter was the huge splatling that aimed right for her.

 **“Wrasse! Use your splatbombs!”** Xander spoke now, trying to encourage her. Trying to remember what they had practiced, she reached for her pocket, yet it felt as though time itself had slowed down drastically as she moved. Was she moving in slow motion, or had time truly stopped? Grabbing the splatbomb, it seemed to go limp within her hands, dropping on the ground.

_WRRRRRR!_

**_“Wrasse! GET OUT OF THERE!”_ **Ripley snapped, seemingly seeing her actions from earlier find a way to repeat themselves once again. The splatling had reloaded, and with that another flurry of ink splats came headed her way.

Before she knew what had hit her, she found herself once again at the spawn.


	10. your wrasse is grass and I'm gonna mow it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wrasse tries to recover from getting splatted, but whiteout goes hard! how can sucker punch recover?

The inkling held a hand to her head, almost still feeling the effect of the rapid shots against her cranium. Trying to recover, she looked around, only to spot one of her own squids nearby.  **“Wrasse,** **_what_ ** **was that?”**

The last thing she felt she wanted to hear was criticism from of course, another one of her teammates.

**“It- It was nothing.”** Wrasse snapped back, trying to avoid the direct sunlight and instead look forward, not realizing it was not Ripley but Xander back at spawn who had asked her. Apparently he had gotten hit by the goo tuber’s inkjet, something he didn’t realize they had as he thought they had a regular goo tuber and not a custom one. 

**“Wrasse, you’re holding back.”** Xander followed after her as she zipped out of base, still inking whatever edges she could. Perhaps her own special could save her instead.

**“Look, I’m doing what I can. Don’t you have Hawke to get?”**

**“Hah, touche. But remember, you’ve also got Angel to get.”** Figuring he wasn’t welcome as well as noticing the change of color on the map, he provided as quick of advice as he could drop before super jumping to the beacon that Ripley had put down earlier.

Now alone, Wrasse had retouched the base as well as gotten a bit further, covering Whiteout’s side of the bridge before she barely dodged a goo tuber shot straight at her. Running for her life, she covered as much of the area near the parking lot that their base was closest to, hiding behind the tree as she regained ink. If Hawke couldn’t get her, she knew three other people who probably could.

Damsel ran through the flats under the bridge that Wrasse had just covered, now taking them back for her team.Unaware of Wrasse’s hidden state, she headed to the right,  Up on the bridge, she heard the shots that both Ripley and it seemed Hawke were duking out, the later filling up their special finally while Ripley threw out his own, sending out an ink storm towards them.

Having reached Wrasse, Damsel continued her horizontal roll before Wrasse jumped up, her aerospray raised at her former teammate. To this, Damsel stifled a giggle and raised her own roller back, jumping at her with a vertical flick. Just barley dodging it, the aero main realized she had backtracked into enemy ink, and was now much slower if she didn’t do something about both the roller and the ink she stood on. Raising her roller again, Wrasse was pleasantly surprised to see a set of bubbles lobbed her way, hitting the roller on the back. Though it didn’t get the roller in its entirety, it gave Wrasse enough of a break to get the last shot in on her, Damsel now returning to her own respawner. 

**“Get dunked, Damsel! Let’s go gamers, we’ve got a turf to win!”** Kampa waved from the bridge, only to be unaware of the sudden mohawked inkling behind them.

**“Kampa- behind you!”** The words came out of Wrasse’s mouth far too late, the bucketful of ink hitting them as they turned around, once again getting sent back to base.

**“You’re** **_next_ ** **, aerospray!”** Gunning it, Wrasse made a break for the other side below the bridge, covering the turf while she ran. 

Reaching the small ramp near her side of the base, she pulled at the trigger of her gun only to feel a sudden state of fear- she had rank out of ink. Slowly stepping on the ramp, she turned around to see Tomini nearly face to face with her, before a loud  _ whrrr  _ behind her got him in the head. Holding his ballpoint nouveau, Ripley raised a single hand to wave at her, clearly busy with once again facing down the now ink-jetting sniper of the opposing team. 

Wrasse found herself in a silent confusion- what was the point of the strategy they had worked on if they each were facing whoever came at them? Surely they hadn’t wasted their time for nothing, right?

Wrasse focused again on getting the flats covered, noting Kampa having respawned and jumped near the beakon, working on covering “their” side of the parking areas. With both the flats down once more, the bridge seemed to be all that was left, as well as the bases.  _ So where was Angel?  _

Ripley watched the inkjet shot skim the top of his undercut, eyes still latched onto his hovering target before him as he managed to shoot them down, the now splatted inkling being sent back to their own spawn. Bearing a cocky grin, he heard the sudden  _ whrrr  _ of an engine just like his own Nouveau’s, glancing to see Angel now on the bridge and pushing forward, getting a few shots in on him. The ink storm he had thrown earlier had helped to cover some of Whiteout’s base, but a quick check on the map by Wrasse led her to believe a certain roller had already managed to cover it up by now. Turning to aim at the other backliner, he had gotten them down at the cost of his own life, though seemingly much more pleased than the last time he had been sent back to the respawner.

Nervous, she continued onward and approached the ramp near Whiteout’s base, covering it before hearing a sudden  _ SPLASH!, _ and a certain yellow line of which the end dot found itself on her nose. _ Ah shit. _

Without time to react, she already felt the shot hit her, though heard Hawke speak before she found herself back at her respawn.

**“You know, for a whole second there I forgot you’re on the enemy team. I was like, woah, what am I doing fighting my own? Nearly tricked me.”**

**“Stop monologuing and ink, you useless lump of goo!”** Damsel hissed behind them, smacking the back of their head with her roller.

**“Hey!”** They grumbled only for Angel, who had now respawned, to split up the disagreement. 

Raising their free right hand briefly, xe signed to the two,  **“** **_You are not each other’s enemy. They are.”_ ** Loading up another shot, xe swam past them, covering as much as they could.

The clownfish, who’s narration Wrasse had tuned out until now, had spoken over the calamity.  **“Looks like team suckerpunch** **_got_ ** **suckerpunched, folks! We’re in the final minute now, and all of team whiteout is back and in action! Where are sucker punch, and what’s their plan now that most of the turf has been taken back?”**

_ Time to panic!  _ Cod damn it, this dude did not help the situation. Having returned to base, Wrasse was surprised by the situation before her. Her team was at base, covering it again whilst not venturing further. What, were they just giving up?! Sneaking a look at Kampa’s map, Wrasse felt her stomach tighten up at the fact they had lost the lead they had previously secured. What was the hold up?

**“Now?”** Ripley grumbled, irritated. Whatever was going on, he seemed impatient with it all.

**“Not yet. They need to feel secure before we strike.”** Xander shook his head.

**“What are you guys doing?! They’re going to win at this rate!”** Wrasse whined, an annoyed huff leaving Ripley’s mouth.

**“Hey dingus, did you forget what we spent an hour practicing?”** The octoling replied, while Kampachi laughed at the word dingus.

**“What?”**

Seemingly secure with how the state of the map was, Xander turned to his team and raised a dualie high.  **“Alright Suckerpunch, are you ready?”**

**“Shell yeah!”** Kampachi cheered, raising a fist in the air.

**“I said are you** **_READY?!”_ ** He shouted once more, eyes glancing at both the wreck that was Wrasse and the grump that was Ripley.

**“YEAH WE ARE!”** Though forced, the trio shouted back at him. The only truly excited one seemed to Kampa, as per usual.

**“Alright, you guys remember what to do. Now, folks,** ” Xander sent out a burst bomb as he proceeded to lead his team forward,  **“Remind me, what are we here to do?”**

As they set out towards the bridge, the team rejoiced once more,

**“WE’RE GONNA SUCKER** **_PUNCH_ ** **YOU!”**

**“Looks like team Sucker punch has something up their sleeves! But can they make it?”** The clownfish shouted over the mic.

_ Cod,  _ Wrasse thought to herself,  _ I sure hope we can. _

More like she hoped she didn’t fuck it up.  _ Again _ .


	11. surf boarding? no bro, I do waterboarding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> excuse the HORRIBLE joke in the title. anyway Kampa fucking dies tm rest in piss <:( jk but god the pressure is finally setting in within the last minute of this match, lads

The quad had set out, splitting up into groups of two before furthering the divide. Ripley and Kampa had set out towards the right of the map, inking as they passed by the parked car in the parking lot near their base. Wrasse and Xander set out to the left, approaching the entrance of the bridge. At the bridge, a lone shot rang out, splitting the duo as Wrasse headed for the bridge and the parking area while Xander head towards the noise.

Now facing the sniper for real, he had to act as fast as he could, getting right to it. Below, he heard the loud sloshing noise of a certain speedy slosher sighting both Kampa and Ripley. The linchpin of his eyes was the masked goo tuber before him, with the aforementioned weapon aimed right between Xander’s eyes. Within mere seconds, the ranged weapon shot, but had missed as the inkling was no longer before Hawke. Acting fast, Xander had performed a dodge roll as he had practiced, doing one more to get right behind Hawke before getting rapid blasts in against the other inkling, sending them back to their base as fast as ever. With his part done, he turned to watch the rest of his team carry out their own duties while still inking the map, setting up his tenta missiles to assist them if any of their shots missed.

Kampachi and Ripley had split up, Ripley getting his shots in on the slosher yet not enough, while his team’s slosher had merely followed after the scampering speed demon. Figures, it was their target anyway, but he knew he could’ve gotten Tomini had he given the smallest bit of chase.  _ Whatever _ , he shrugged off, looking around the map as he proceeded to throw down a squid beakon at his corner of the map, inking the turf around him.

As he approached the tree near him while covering the map, he heard the leaves whistle at a sudden movement. Readying his ballpoint, he covered whatever ink he could of whiteout’s before seeing a figure lunge forward, roller raised.  _ Damsel.  _ Though he had himself readied now, he knew he wouldn’t be able to load up a killer shot this up close.

_ Beep Beep!  _ He didn’t have to. Seeing the sudden glowing ring forming around Damsel’s feet told him all he needed to know, swimming back before loading a true shot to shoot as one of Xander’s tenta missiles splashed Damsel on the cheek. Sticking out her tongue and letting out an audible  **“bleh,”** Ripley could only assume she had accidentally taken in some of the opposing ink.  _ Cod,  _ he thought,  _ they’re stupid enough like Wrasse to do that, huh?  _ He found it hard to acknowledge that she had in fact no longer associated with the team as she did, but regardless finished the job that Xander had aided in. Wide eyed at the sudden fire of shots, Damsel had little to no time to react, being sent back to her spawn instantaneously. Swiping his brow, Ripley focused on approaching the ramp near the bridge on their side and inking it now, checking the map to see what progress Kampachi and Wrasse made.

Kampa, while not as fast as Tomini on foot, was about as fast, if not faster in ink. Sloshing in front of themselves while chasing him, they proceeded to shout,  **“Why are you running! Why are you running?!”** It was more of an ego booster if anything, trying to make a joke out of the situation while remaining a threat. As they followed him they set down a sprinkler nearby. 

The strange game of cat and mouse came to a halt after Tomini had lured them in towards the ramp near his own base. With no warning, he had suddenly gone and disappeared. Where, Kampa had no idea, merely looking around. Disregarding it, they figured him a coward and covered up the edge of the map. Taking a few steps back, Kampa admired their coverage of this part of the map.  **“Huh,”** they said to no one in particular,  **“this map is kind of pretty.”** They noted the little pool of water nearby, the ever so pretty bounce of the ink bubble they had lobbed too far as it traveled across the decor before popping.  _ Too bad it doesn’t have any ducks in it like Snapper canal.  _ For a brief moment, Kampa found themselves more focused on their surroundings for once, that is, until they stepped too far back and tripped over something.

That  _ something  _ had grabbed them by the shoulder and wrist, suddenly slamming them against the metal railing they previously stood by. Wrist now held crooked in position behind themselves, they were rendered unable to properly flick their bloblobber, a feeling of immobility washing over them along with terror.  _ What the shell?! _

**“Let go of me!”** Kampa squeaked out, struggling as they were unable to break out of the grasp that forced them against the fence.

**“It seems I didn’t make myself clear to you, huh octoling?”** Tomini spoke, a bitter tone in his voice.

**“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t legal! Get off of me!”** They caterwauled, squirming about before Tomini smacked them on the back of the head with his slosher. Though wincing from the stinging pain, it was only then that Kampa realized he was managing this with only one hand.  _ Cod, he’s this strong? Or.. or am i that weak! What does this freak want with me?! _

**“I know you’ve got your own comm set with your team. Tell them to back off and let us take this match, or I’ll throw you over.”** The bite in his voice was for once quite terrifying, paralyzing Kampa altogether. 

_ Where’s Kampa, and why isn’t Tomini down yet?  _ Wrasse was on the other side of the map, trying to fend for herself as she took whatever turf she could score up, praying not to accidentally find Angel.

**“I’ll give you a count of three.”** Tomini growled further, now leaning Kampa towards the water’s edge. Struggling still, they couldn’t get out of the hold, lifting their face as much as they could to avoid the water. 

**“Please** **_don’t-_ ** **”** They whimpered, desperate to get out of his grasp, 

**“One.”**

**“Don’t do this!”**

**“Two.”**

**“You could win- if you just played normally!”** They offered, though it seemed it was the wrong thing to say. Antagonized, a scowl covered the mohawked inkling’s face, forcing the octoling’s head into the water.

He had splatted them.

**“KAMPA!”** Ripley shouted, overhearing the exchange and having rushed his way over to the site. With a full shot ready, he had gotten down Tomini in a matter of flashes, yet wished he hadn’t. He wished that  _ no good, son of a fish  _ still stood just so he could wrangle that squid into pieces. What kind of honorable squid does shit like that? Disgusted, he found himself discouraged with himself at the fact he should’ve expected it. Tomini’s taunt hadn’t been all bark. It seemed that _ bitch bit and he bit hard.  _ But Ripley wouldn’t let them win just yet through fear tactics. 

Unaware of whether or not the rest of the team was like that, he made his way back to the bridge where he gazed up at the spawn of Team Whiteout, before turning it to Wrasse. She was still down on the lower part below the bridge. It was all on her now, wasn’t it? 

The inkling had barely had time to recover from the delivered threat that Tomini had dealt to Kampa.  _ That should’ve been me,  _ she grimaced,  _ Kampa didn’t deserve that!  _ He had threatened  _ her _ after all- it was unfair, it was wicked, it was disgraceful! It was so-  _ Tomini.  _ Realizing now that the rest of the team was still respawning save for one more member, Wrasse stood firm in her position, ready with a burst bomb to go.  _ Wait _ , she thought,  _ why am I shaking?  _

What was it about what Tomini had done that had gotten Wrasse this worked up? Despite the fact that the judge of the match hadn’t even seen what Tomini had did, nor did any of the recordings capture his actions, it seemed as though that wasn’t it.  _ So what was it?  _

_ Oh right. He’s related to Angel. _

That didn’t help to ease the growing tension within her stomach, now wondering if such violence was something they shared between blood. Was Angel as volatile as he was? Was any of this fight worth the wear they were all going through? Only one way to find out. 

A motor before her went off, and as Wrasse gazed up at the higher ground of the parking lot, she felt her stomach tighten up at the sight of the splatling.

_ Yeah,  _ she thought,  _ it’s all up to me. _


	12. Splatoon: endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> haha get it end game bc splatoon is a game and it ends and if you really think abt it a booyah bomb is akin to someone doing a thanos snap. anyway we have reached the end.. JUST KIDDING ill add a few bonus chapters but yeah the main story is kind of complete

The  _ whrr  _ of the splatling echoed through her ears, the black and white backliner getting ready to shoot. It wasn’t the first time she had heard it by now, but it would be the first time that Angel would be the only person still standing for team Whiteout.

The kensa weapon lowered its nozzle at Wrasse once again, an emotionless expression on Angel’s face as xe was prepared to shoot.

**“Well, what the heck are you doing? Dodge that, dumbo!”** It was a surprise to hear Kampa speak through the comms again- especially after the horrid incident with Tomini. Still, it seemed delirium found its way into Wrasse’s brain.

**“What? Kampa, are you speaking to me from the afterlife?!”** Wrasse spoke back, as Angel released the trigger on the splatling. 

**“No time to answer that! Go left!”** Kampa ignored her question and instead shouted, watching through their map as Wrasse dodged the shots fired at her. Changing xer aim, Angel began to quickly turn the gun to the left, before Kampa spoke up again.

**“Hard right! Keep zigzagging and xe will be sure to run out of ink before they can get you!”**

Following Kampa’s orders, Wrasse found herself mere inches from missing the shots that Angel’s weapon took at her, yet still somehow alive. It seemed that Angel had finally ran out of steam on xer gun, for they finally stopped shooting rapidly. Charging another shot, Kampa realized the opportunity ahead and spoke again.

**“Wrasse! Get up there through the ramp and use your strategy to take xer down! Also I’m not in the afterlife, tragically. A place away from Tomini? That’s heaven alright.”**

**“Gotcha! Hey, wait a minute, what the shell are you doing right now then?”** Wrasse inquired, though backtracking over to the ramp to get closer to Angel and splat them within the limited time frame of the rest of team Whiteout finally respawning.

Hearing the flick of a soda can, Wrasse snorted before Kampa spoke.

**“I’m taking a soda break. It’s not my fault there was a vending machine at spawn.”**

**“Oh my Cod, you’re the worst.”** Wrasse shook her head as she inked the ramp, heading forward to see Angel with once again another prepared shot.

**“Behind the car!”** Kampa acknowledged the presence of the lone car parked at the parking deck, while Wrasse scrambled to hide on the other side of it. Though it helped to avoid the next few shots, Angel walked towards the other side of the car where Wrasse hid. The cover didn’t last long, and Wrasse had to jump out and ink her way further down the lot past Angel.

**“Nice save! Do it now, Wrasse!”** Kampa’s words of encouragement seemed to help the inkling, who now raised her aim from the turf to Angel themselves. Reaching in her pocket to pull out a burst bomb, she watched as Angel reloaded another shot. She had to act now, and she had to act fast. She couldn’t mess this up now- everyone, Kampa included,- had faith in her. She  _ couldn’t  _ let them down.

Despite the splatling reloading quicker than her as Angel was now in a frenzy to survive, Wrasse threw the bomb at Angel, the ink splatting across xer face and temporarily catching them off guard. While it wasn’t enough to finish Wrasse, nor were the shots that Angel had managed to get in on Wrasse within that small timeframe. Running past xer, she raised the aerospray and shot xer in the back.

She watched as xe returned to spawn, having successfully splatted them. 

Turning to her left, she watched as a ring appeared on the ground, glowing and spinning to show that someone was super jumping over to her. Sure enough, it was Kampa themselves, bearing a wide, stupid grin. 

**“You did it! I’m so proud of you!”** As they spoke, she realized they still had the can of clamsoda equipped.

**“Yeah, well, it was because of you and your soda break I didn’t panic again.”** At the mention of the can, Kampa crushed the aluminum case within their hands and placed it in their pocket. Wrasse wasn’t sure whether to be terrified or amazed at the sight, and decided not to react at all.

**“Right. Well then, let’s finish this!”**

**“Not so fast. You two, you** **_both_ ** **have been ruining this match!”**

**“Give it a** **_rest_ ** **, Tomini.”** Trying to ignore the fact Kampa flinched at the sight of him now, she held her aerospray towards the ground while keeping a burst bomb ready in her other hand.

**“We’ve** **_never_ ** **lost, and we won’t start now. We definitely won’t start just because** **_you_ ** **left us! Angel is far better than you, and-”**

**“And Angel got splatted by me, so you can go back to your spawn and think about that.”** Wrasse snapped back, throwing a burst bomb at him. Only because of his horrible, ridiculously speedy gear did he manage to dodge, though barely.

**“You and your team are** **_nothing_ ** **compared to us.”**

**“No, Tomini. That’s where you’ve got it wrong.”** It was a surprise to hear Kampa be willing to speak, especially given that they were frightened of him mere seconds ago. The inkling titled his head at them, only for them to speak.

**“You’re nothing compared to the rest of your team. And you’re** **_nothing_ ** **without them carrying you.”** To this, they flicked their bloblobber forward, the bubblestream getting him before he could dodge it.

**“Good riddance.”** Wrasse rolled her eyes, before Kampa locked their elbow around hers, pulling her close in a friendly embrace.

**“Come on Wrasse, you’ve made it through this whole match and now we’ve got 20 seconds left- what’s say you get a booyah bomb in? I think Suckerpunch had deserved it. Right guys?”** Kampa spoke, acknowledging the comms set as they did, hearing a snort from Ripley while Xander merely laughed.

**“It’ll help us cover whatever they manage to get since they’re finally coming back, I guess.”** Ripley spoke, getting a distance shot on Damsel that surprised himself. Bearing a stupid grin at that, Xander found himself truly at peace with this team. The fight had been hard- getting here in the first place  _ sucked-  _ but they were really something. 

**“You know, I think Kampa’s right. We deserve it. Let ‘er rip, Wrasse!”** He encouraged, while Wrasse merely shook her head at her own team. At the end of the day, they were all just a bunch of kids having fun, and they had each other. Who was to deprive any of them of the happiness they fought so hard for?

Merely going with what the others had suggested, Wrasse had managed to fill up her special weapon gauge at this point as she approached the base. Seeing Angel and Hawke now respawned, Wrasse wasn’t surprised when the two raised their weapons at her. Of course, they didn’t have time to land a shot, as she jumped into the air, the strong repelling magnetism of the booyah bomb keeping her raised in the air. Though they shot at her, the power of the booyah bomb coursed through her, protecting her from taking any damage. Staring in horror, the two seemingly accepted their fate and the fact in the last 10 seconds of this match they wouldn’t be able to achieve much else. In order to work, however, the bomb required its namesake- booyahs to be charged from her team.

Being within distance from her, Kampa shouted as loud as audibly possible, probably breaking both Xander and Ripley’s eardrums.  **“SHELL YEAH!”**

Rolling his eyes at the overdramatic-ness of the two, Ripley raised a clenched fist and grinned,  **“Oomi!”**

**“Ngyes!”** Xander laughed, watching as Tomini respawned and went through a state of anger to sudden terror. It seemed he hadn’t noticed that his once Aerospray MG player had shifted to an Aerospray PG, and now had the power of booyah bombs on her side.

“ **_BOOYAH!”_ **

With that, she had thrown the bomb forward at them, falling back down and landing in her team’s ink as the booyah bomb sent an explosion of ink towards the base, covering whatever was still white ink in the bright pink that Suckerpunch had rocked for this match. As the last five seconds came and went, the match was over in an instant, the tweet of Judd’s favorite whistle to announce such. Within the last few seconds, she had gotten all three of the team down, and now just had to wait for the results.

As they all approached the actual exits of the stages, they passed through the crowd that had just watched the fight in its entirety, Xander and Kampa waving at the occasional inkling or octoling. Making their way to the judge’s area, Wrasse recalled the sight of the clownfish announcer now staring eagerly at Judd and Lil’ Judd. Gazing at the map, one would have to be colorblind to not notice the clear victor, but the judges had to be as thorough as possible; This was the  _ finals  _ for the turf war division after all. 

**“After examining the results, me and lil’ Judd have come to the safe conclusion that… This battle was won by Team Suckerpunch! We have a new champion of turf war!”**

Time froze for a moment after Judd had spoken. Wrasse looked around, seeing the gleeful expressions of her teammates. She hadn’t recalled seeing just how happy both Ripley and Kampa were ever since they had escaped the deep sea metro. Xander, on the other hand, had offered a polite hand on Wrasse’s shoulder, the widest grin he could bear on his face.

**“I told you we’ve got nothing to fear! We’re the best team, don’t you forget it!”**

The crowd further behind them cheered, some booed, though at what ratio Wrasse couldn’t hear as it sounded like a mess of shouting. Regardless, she turned further to note the fish announcer speaking on live television, holding the mic to their face.

**“And you have it folks! It’s official- Team Whiteout has finally been dethroned by Team Suckerpunch, the new champions of turf war! An eventful battle, and an even better winning strategy by Suckerpunch.”**

Despite how long it had been, it seemed it only just now sunk in what this meant.

_ We really won. _


End file.
